Aer Lingus has issued compulsory redundancy notices to 10 of its pilots after talks with IMPACT on voluntary severance broke down yesterday. The union is expected to hold a strike ballot of members next week if the company does not withdraw the 30 days' redundancy notice.

The company has been seeking 80 pilot redundancies as part of its overall survival plan to shed 2,026 jobs. So far, more than 1,600 employees have applied, but these include fewer than 10 pilots.

All the pilots being made redundant are junior co-pilots with short service, who will only receive amounts of up to €3,000 (£2,360). If senior pilots were made redundant using the same formula, they would receive up to €230,000.

The refusal of Aer Lingus to offer all pilots the same formula - four weeks' pay for each year of service, as applies to other Aer Lingus employees - is at the heart of the dispute. It says it cannot afford to offer the full package to senior pilots, who earn up to €120,000 in basic pay per year.

The company had earlier offered to give the four weeks' pay per year of service to all pilots with less than 10 years' service. Last week, Aer Lingus extended the offer to all co-pilots, regardless of length of service. However, as most pilots with long service have been promoted to captain, the number who would benefit from the improvement is small.

Yesterday, IMPACT's Mr Michael Landers described the offer as "cynical" and said that if there was no change in the company's position by next week's meeting, the union would recommend industrial action.

IMPACT may not have to take strike action as members are owed 1,600 weeks in leave days. "We believe the pilots have been singled out for unfair treatment," Mr Landers said. "I would suggest it is grotesque to make people redundant from a category where there are not enough staff to allow people to take leave they are owed."